We e ke n d 5
Hambleden
Buckinghamshire
“Darling, let’s go to the London commuter
belt,” said no one ever. A shame because
this should be prime weekender territory,
built of indecently lovely flint and brick,
and cushioned in bosky hills that are
movie magic: try Poirot and Tim Burton’s
Sleepy Hollow for starters. Must-see sights?
None, that’s the joy. The square is sweet.
A brass band plays outside the church on
Sundays. There’s a walk via Ridge Wood to
watch boats on the Thames at Hambleden
Lock. It’s lazy weekends writ large. Do it
properly with a roast at the Stag &
Huntsman (thestagandhuntsman.com).
Stay The Stag & Huntsman, B&B
doubles from £Plockton Highlands
Plockton appeared in the cult horror
movie The Wicker Man, but don’t let that
put you off. It compresses the Scottish
Highlands into one village. Cute crofters’
cottages hugging the shore of Loch
Carron: tick. Views across mirror-still
waters to the mountains of Wester Ross:
tick. Seals on boat trips and fresh langous-
tine lunches at Plockton Inn: tick again.
Though popular in summer, it’s practically
off the map compared with nearby Skye.
And should you require Highlands tran-
quillity, Sea Kayak Plockton leads trips to
bays only accessible by sea.Stay Plockton Hotel, B&B doubles from
£150 (plocktonhotel.co.uk)Beer Devon
Ready to step into an evocation of simple
seaside hols past? Then away to this
dove-grey village in a crumple of Jurassic
Coast, all bunting zigzagging down the
high street and planters spanning a stream.
Beyond all is a half-moon of shingle within
cliffs: ice creams in deckchairs, beached
fishing boats at jaunty angles, sea winking:
“Come on in.” What more do you need?
Go on a five-mile return hike to Brans-
combe if you like; the Smugglers KitchenThe Grove, Narberth, PembrokeshireMore villages next page
GETTY IMAGES; ALAMY; PHIL BOORMAN(thesmugglerskitchen.co.uk) offers good
food afterwards. I’ve never had the will-
power to leave the beach.
Stay Glebe House, B&B doubles from
£129 (glebehousedevon.co.uk)Hawkshead
Lake District
Grasmere’s a beauty, but, boy, those coach
tours. Pedestrianised Hawkshead is a love-
ly 17th-century warren. You’ll duck under
archways, dawdle in squares and gawp in
lanes. Hawkshead Square and Words-
worth Street will bust your Instagram. The
Queens Head is your spot for lunch. Most
people visit for Beatrix Potter — her
former home is a National Trust gallery.
Yet the sight you’ll remember is free.
From the low hill of the church you’ll gaze
out over slate roofs and chimneys to
cute hills and finally a rumble of moun-
tains. Magic.
Stay Yewfield, B&B doubles from £
(yewfield.co.uk)Widecombe-in-the-Moor
Devon
If the Devonian coast is cheerful, Dart-
moor’s finest village broods splendidly.
Sure, Café on the Green offers heart-
warming home cooking. Yes, September’s
Widecombe Fair is jolly. Yet Widecombe is
also haunted by devilry — noticeboards in
its church, the Cathedral of the Moor,
recall Satan’s visit in 1638 (ball lightning,
actually). Arthur Conan Doyle wrote
The Hound of the Baskervilles after the
hike to Bowerman’s Nose, just one granite
tor rising from the surrounding sea of
fields and moor. Slake a thirst afterwards
at the Rugglestone Inn.
Stay The Ilsington, B&B doubles from
£135 (ilsington.co.uk)Zennor Cornwall
To visit Zennor is to tap into a vein of Cor-
nish character long erased in St Ives. It’s a
granite village hunkered down at the wild
edge of the world. On either side are
ragged coast washed by peacock seas and
keening moors rife with rumours of pagan
practice at Zennor Quoit burial chamber
— walkers take note, you’ll hear tales ofmermaids; one is carved into a pew of its
church — and tin mining. Have a pint of
Tinners Ale over lunch at the Tinners
Arms, DH Lawrence’s local in 1916.
Stay The Gurnard’s Head,
B&B doubles from £
(gurnardshead.co.uk)Braemar
AberdeenshireQueen Victoria liked Braemar so much
she bought a holiday home, Balmoral.
You’re coming for a Scotland that seems
stuck in the 1950s (in a good way). The
centre is all tartan and shortbread, antler
chandeliers and lemon sherbet in shops. In
the old grocer Farquharson’s Bar & Kit-
chen serves good food. For the full
Highlands fling there’s a museum on Brae-
mar’s Highland Games. Otherwise head
into Cairngorms scenery that attracted
Queen Victoria in the first place: Cairn-
well, the easiest Munro to bag, is near by;
there’s superlative salmon fishing in the
River Dee.
Stay The Fife Arms has doubles B&B from
£250 (thefifearms.com)Croyde Devon
One of Britain’s best surf breaks vivifies
this cute nest of Devonian thatch slumber-
ing between comely hills. When the surf’s
up at weekends the Thatch pub is almost
riotous; the Rock Inn (therockinn.biz) in
nearby Georgeham is better for dining
(reopens in December). On the off-chance
you’re not here for surf lessons — try
Surfing Croyde Bay (surfingcroydebay.
co.uk) — or sandcastles on a stellar beach,
walk around Baggy Point. Sandleigh Tea
Room at the path’s start/end serves cream
teas. Cream on first, please: you’re in
Devon not Cornwall.
Stay Saunton Sands Hotel, B&B doubles
from £236 (sauntonsands.co.uk)Hambleton Rutland
The 1963 Shell Guide described Rutland
as “150 square miles of an unknown
England”. No change there. That’s much
of Hambleton’s appeal. It could almost be
the Cotswolds — expensive honey-stoned
houses, good food at the Finch’s Arms —
were it not so quiet and the discombobula-
tion of being on a peninsula poked into
Rutland Water, England’s largest reser-
voir. On sunny days you can kid yourself
that it’s the coast. Cycle an easy circuit of
the lake and see ospreys in the Rutland
Water Nature Reserve. This being 21st-
century birding, they’re on Twitter,
@rutlandospreys.
Stay Hambleton Hall, B&B doubles from
£310 (hambletonhall.com)Narberth Pembrokeshire
In statute, this is a town. I’m including it
here because there are far larger villages in
this list. Well, that and because Narberth is
pure joy. As bright as Crayola crayons
around a dinky town hall, the centre jostles
with independent shops that holler “Visit
me!” (Mine’s a Welsh blanket from Golden
Sheaf gallery if you’re passing.) Food out-
lets such as tapas bar Ultracomida seem to
operate for love as much as money. Every-
one has time to chat. Compact, independ-
ent, communal. Couldn’t be more Welsh.
Stay The Grove, B&B doubles from £
(thegrove-narberth.co.uk)Fife Arms, AberdeenshireHawkshead, Lake DistrictUK Where to stay and eat
Great
British
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